10 RV Maintenance Tips to Keep Your RV in Great Shape

Keeping up with maintenance is an important part of owning an RV. Considering how much an RV can do for you while traveling, there are plenty of moving parts that need to be maintained if they are going to continue to work properly.

Here are ten RV maintenance tips that can help you extend the life of your RV.

Care for Your Tires

You aren’t going to get far without good tires, so this is a smart place to start thinking about maintenance. With tires, it comes down to basics: maintain good tire pressure, watch for signs of wear, and use tire covers (or park under cover) to limit UV damage while your vehicle is parked. It’s also a good idea to do your best to evenly load the RV while on your trips, so you don’t cause one tire to bear more than its fair share of the weight along the way.

Change the Oil

If you own the type of RV that has its own engine–like a motorhome–be sure to stay on top of changing the engine’s oil at regular intervals. It can be easy to forget about this task since you probably don’t drive your RV nearly as often as your other vehicles, but it’s critically important if you want a long and healthy life with your RV.

Pay Attention to the Batteries

The average RV owner parks their rig during the winter months and waits for spring and summer to roll around before they start traveling. If that sounds like you, it’s a good idea to take the batteries out of your RV and put them somewhere safe for storage. Leaving them in the RV is going to cause them to slowly drain off and they might not charge up again when you are ready to get going.

Wash Your RV Regularly

This is a simple maintenance point but it can go a long way. By washing your RV consistently, at least after every trip, if not more regularly, you can prevent buildup from piling on the outside of the RV and wearing away at the finish. Consider investing in some equipment to wash an RV easily, like RV cleaner and a scrubber brush with a long handle.

Run Your Systems Regularly

When your RV sits in storage for a long stretch, it’s a good idea to get everything up and running for a bit just to keep it in working order. You can put the batteries back in, run the generator, and get everything else going, if only for a few minutes. This has the added benefit of helping you spot problems before your next trip arrives so they can be fixed in a timely manner.

Let Your RV Breathe

For a simple maintenance tip that can go along way, make it a point to open up your RV from time to time to let air circulate inside the rig. If you keep it closed up tight for months at a time, the air inside is going to get stale and you could even experience some damage from high humidity levels. Pick a nice day to open up the windows for a few hours–just remember to close it all back up again at night.

Keep Good Records

With so much going on in your day-to-day life, it’s hard to remember what maintenance tasks you have performed on your RV, and which still need to be done. Create a maintenance log, either digitally or on a piece of paper, and record everything you do throughout the year. This will remove any doubt and make sure you don’t accidentally overlook important steps.

Have the Pros Take a Look

It’s great to do some of your own maintenance on your RV, but there are certain things that are better left to the professionals. From time to time, make an appointment with your local RV dealer to have them perform service and check on key parts of the system such as the wheel bearings and slide-out components.

Do Some Reading

Finally, it’s a good idea to know as much about your specific RV make and model as possible–and that’s what the owner’s manual is for. Keep the manual in a safe place and set aside some time to read through it and make notes on anything you learn. This might not be the most exciting reading you do, but it sure can help you get the most out of your rig.

Keep Your RV Protected

Once of the best things you can do for your RV is to keep it protected from the elements. It’s unlikely you’ll have a garage big enough, so turn to Carport Kingdom for a quality, RV carport. With protection from rain and sun damage, you’ll be going a long way toward making sure your RV lives up to its potential.

To see what’s possible when you order from Carport Kingdom, check out our Build & Price tool today. And, if you would like some help, just contact us and our friendly team will be happy to assist!